Councillors reject Urban Splash plans for Morecambe

A long-standing vision for Morecambe’s Central Promenade has been rejected by councillors.

Lancaster City Council’s planning committee voted 12 to 1 against Urban Splash’s proposals for high-rise luxury flats, car parking, a new hotel, shops, cafes, public spaces and a leisure attraction at a meeting at Lancaster Town Hall on Monday morning.

Councillors rejected the plans citing the size of the buildings and the current economic climate.

Most of the committee however agreed they saw some form of development on the Central Promenade site as “essential”.

The Manchester developers, who restored and reopened the Midland hotel in 2008, want to build on the promenade in five phases over an eight-year period, finishing in 2022.

But a Lancaster City Council planning report ahead of the meeting revealed 81 per cent of people who contacted the council were against the scheme.